Courtesy of Fansided.com

At 10-2, and on the cusp of 11-2 or 10-3, the 2015 Fighting Irish have a definite place near the top of the heap of Notre Dame’s non-championship teams. Team 127, however it fares on New Year’s Day against Ohio State, should be remembered for playing out the phrase “what though the odds” in a manner that no other team in the modern era can claim. For this reason, Team 127 may rightly claim Notre Dame’s most remarkable season.

Ten win seasons do not grow on trees. Notre Dame’s first ten win season came in 1921 and there have been only fifteen more after that, to include 2015. Rockne had three such seasons (1921, 1924, 1930). Leahy, one (1949). Ara had three (1970, 1973, 1974) and Devine after him but one (1977). Lou had five (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993). Ty (2002) and Weis (2006) had one each. Kelly has had two (2012, 2015) in his six seasons as head coach.

The mere fact that the Irish nailed ten skins to the wall is not to suggest that they out-performed the expectations. In fact, there are many among us who expected to go undefeated and contend for a championship. Consider the Opposing Coach’s Take from SI.com’s team preview back in August: “If quarterback Malik Zaire is accepted by teammates, and there isn’t any lingering effect from Everett Golson’s leaving, that will be key. Golson was probably a better runner, but Malik is a better passer… Ronnie Stanley is a legitimate pass protector at left tackle. He’s a long-armed guy, he’s got good knee bend, and he’s the best athlete on that front group… At some points running back Tarean Folston was able to get his pads down and become a difficult target at the second and third level. I don’t know that he’s a home run hitter, but he should be a 1,000-yard rusher… Receiver Will Fuller runs good routes; he’s got good hands. He will attempt to block… Cornerback KeiVarae Russell has good hips, good feet. He’s got explosive movement and good body control. My biggest concern would be the safeties. They played a good amount, but they weren’t particularly good.”

Photo: Robin Alam/Icon SMI

By the end of the Virginia game, both Tarean Folston and Malik Zaire were done for the season. They joined Jarron Jones, who was lost in preseason practice. Then the Irish lost Drue Tranquill and Alex Bars, both for the season. Joining them, in part or in whole, were Durham Smythe, James Onwualu, C.J. Prosise, KeiVarae Russell, Shaun Crawford, and Eqauanimeous St. Brown. As of this writing, it appears likely that Onwualu will play against tOSU. Smythe, Jones, and Prosise are listed as questionable, but Jones seems very likely to play. Russell is expected not to play. St. Brown’s status is not known.

Malik Zaire was the starting quarterback. When he was lost in the Virginia game and Kizer somehow connected with Will Fuller to save the win, questions about how the sophomore could lead the team abounded. That he was ultimately so successful draws comparisons to Kevin McDougal’s improbable run in 1993, when he took the starter’s role from an injured Ron Powlus.

That comparison, however, is a little misleading. While Kevin and Kizer are both swell lookers and neither one of them is Chinese, their situations have little in common. Kevin was the starter, and the team’s preferred leader, going into the opener against Northwestern. Kizer took over in medias res and with no alternative. Kevin was an experienced leader, Kizer was not. The team was prepared for Kevin. They were not for Kizer.

Pile onto the players’ uncertainty the work Coaches Kelly and Sanford had to do getting the offensive scheme and their new QB1 on the same level. Then lose a starter, seemingly, every game. Next man in and all that. Rack up ten wins. Go undefeated at home. Lose two games by a combined four points. Finish the season with the 26th ranked overall offense, average 471.5 yards of offense per game and scoring fifty touchdowns.

One hundred years ago, almost to the day, a French unit, the 152 Infantry Regiment, went into action near Hartmannswillerkopf, losing 81 dead, 541 wounded, and 1376 missing. La perte est cruelle, mais l’honneur est sauf. I don’t feel translation is necessary; you can sound out the meaning. While the comparison between war losses and football injuries is also a poor one, the fact remains that though 2015’s losses were indeed cruel, Team 127 fought on, and put together the most remarkable season in Notre Dame’s modern history.

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Bayou Irish

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Hating Hurricanes Since 1990.

Bayou Irish is a Jersey boy and Double Domer who fell under New Orleans' spell in 1995. He's been through Katrina and fourteen years in the Coast Guard, so we cut him some slack, mostly in the form of HLS-subsidized sazeracs. But, when he's not face down on the bar and communing with the ghosts of Faulkner and Capote at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, he's our man in SEC-land, doing his best to convince everyone around him that Graduation Success Rate is a better indicator of success than the number of MNC's won in the last five years.

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